The present invention relates to a covering hood for hitch balls on the hitch gear of a car for aftercoupled trailers, caravans, etc. These hitch balls should be slightly greasy in order to function satisfactorily, and as they are normally placed freely accessible at the rear end of the car there is a great risk for the user of the car of being smudged by the hitch ball, especially when loading or unloading goods from the trunk of the car. Therefore it is preferred to cover the hitch ball by means of a covering hood when the ball is not being used.
However, it so occurs that the known covering hoods only partially solve the associated problems, as the hoods may very easily disappear if they are loosely mounted, while they may remain in place when provided with connecting chains to the hitch gear, but when the hood is mounted, the chain may make a noise, and when the hitch ball is being used, the dangling hood may make a noise. At any rate it has been observed that a very large number of users abandon a systematic use of the covering hood and thereby choose to leave the hitch ball practically greaseless, which may counteract the smudging but is certainly not ideal for the function of the hitch gear.
It is the purpose of the invention to provide a covering hood which is operable and arranged in a manner which is so simple and appropriate that it is practically sure that it will be used by any user, such that the hitch ball may be kept appropriately greased without any considerable practical inconvenience to the user, be it directly or indirectly.
The covering hood according to the invention is particular in that it comprises two half bowl members, each being pivotally fastened relative the connecting structure between the ball and the vehicle so as to be pivotable between a closed position, in which the half bowl members enclose at least the major part of the ball, and an open position in which they are positioned projecting outwards from the connecting rod well below the level of the hitch ball. In the folded-out position of the bowl, the hitch ball will thus be freely accessible for connecting the trailer, but the half bowls will hereby remain in a fixed pivotal connection with the hitch gear and thus not in, for example, a loose chain connection therewith, such that the folded-out bowl portions will not cause any noise inconvenience during driving.
When the user has hitched off the trailer, it is merely necessary to fold up the bowl portions about the hitch ball, but this is a very simple operation, as the half bowls are already mounted and are merely required to be pivoted upwards for covering the greased hitch ball. In being folded out to opposite sides of the ball the half bowls will visually call for being closed again after use of the ball.
The handling of the covering hood will thereby be so simple that is will appear natural to any user to open and close the half bowl members, when coupling and uncoupling the trailer, respectively, and moreover the hood will present no noise problems during driving in neither closed nor open condition.
It should be mentioned that it has previously been suggested to provide for a cover shield member, which is pivoted to the vehicle or to some special hitch gear so as to be pivotal between a folded down, rearwardly protruding position and a folded up position, in which it covers the top, rear and lateral sides of the hitch ball. It is a special feature of this invention that the covering hood, whether including two half parts of only one such shield member, will be mountable directly on the hitch ball rod immediately underneath the hitch ball, viz. with the use of a clamp ring secured to the ball rod in a position, in which the top of the clamp ring engages the lower side of the ball just around the ball rod. In many hitch gears the outer end of the ball rod is conical, and, with the use of the clamp ring, it will be possible to mount the pivotal cover bowl or bowls universally on the various types of hitch gears, also those having conical ball rods, since the clamp ring will be fixable to the ball rod in a stable manner when the ring engages the underside of the bowl, particularly when the ball rod is conical. Thus, the height position of the pivot means of the said cover bowl or bowls relative the hitch ball will be well defined even for different hitch gears, such that it is possible hereby to design a hood structure which is universally applicable.
The invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing.